Plot: It’s the semi-finals of the regional tournament, and Max is up against Kai! Max has a brand new Beyblade weighted for balance and defense, but Kai has no intentions of losing to Tyson’s new friend. Can Max manage to win a battle without a Bit Beast or will one manage to find him before it’s too late?
Bey-Battles
Segmented Battle
Round 1: Max (Draciel Metal Ball Defenser) vs Kai (Dranzer S) – Victor: Kai
Round 2: Max (Draciel Metal Ball Defenser) vs Kai (Dranzer S) – Victor: Max
Round 3: Max (Draciel Metal Ball Defenser) vs Kai (Dranzer S) – Victor: Kai
Overall Winner: Kai
Breakdown: There are only four participants left in the tournament – Tyson, Max, Kai and the mysterious specially invited guest, Ray. Max is set to go up against Kai while Tyson’s match with Ray will come right after. Before Max’s bout, his father gives him a pendant that was Max’s grandmother’s.
They introduce a new BeyStadium, the first trick BeyStadium we’ve seen in the series – the Saucer Bowl. In this stadium, it’s not the Beyblade that stays spinning the longest that wins – it’s whichever manages to get in the top of the centerpiece and stay there for ten seconds. In this battle, it’s a best of three matchup.
I know I said I’d stop talking about this, and I promise I’m trying, but this is one of those situations where it’s insanely hard to ignore how little the mechanics of this series makes sense. The announcers are all “It takes great skill and concentration to get up there!” but like….from who? They’re literally just standing there watching their Beyblades do stuff.
Anyway, Max reveals his newly altered Beyblade has ball bearings in it to make it heavier and more balanced.
Max manages to get to the center for a while, but Dranzer slams down on his blade, causing it fly out of the arena. Dranzer stays in the center for ten seconds, giving Kai the first round win.
Encouraged by Tyson to face him in the finals, Max trudges on and plots a new strategy for defeating Kai. As they enter round two, Max launches his blade with a reverse pull and immediately shoots up into the center. No one can figure out what Max’s plan is with the reverse launch until Kai does the exact same attack move he did before, landing on Max’s blade with a deafening thud. This time, Max’s blade stays standing, though stops spinning, while Dranzer spins on top of it.
Max launched his blade with a reverse pull to send it spinning in the opposite direction, which would absorb Kai’s attack and leave his blade spinning…….Which…uh…yeah, that’s…no. First of all, I don’t care how many ball bearings you have in that thing, there’s no way it’s balanced enough to stay standing without spinning, especially if a Beyblade just body slammed into it from 30 feet in the air. Second, this plan relied entirely on Dranzer hitting Draciel smack dab in the middle. If it hit even a little bit on either side, it would easily lose balance and fall over.
Also, Draciel stopped spinning…..Doesn’t that mean it should be out of the match? I wasn’t aware that a blade can technically stay in the game if it’s upright but not spinning.
Kai calls for a final attack before the ten seconds is up, but Max reveals the rest of his plan. Absorbing the energy from Dranzer’s spinning, Draciel is able to spin in the other direction, causing Dranzer to stop spinning and be booted out of the arena while the ten seconds is called.
Uhm…..Uh???
Okay, I should specify something here – that explanation I just gave was my interpretation on what happened. Max just says Draciel will start spinning in the opposite direction now. He doesn’t explain how or why this is happening, he just says that it will, like he can call for it by demand or something. It also doesn’t explain why Dranzer would just stop spinning when he does this. You’d think if Draciel started spinning in the same direction it would actually make Dranzer spin more, not stop. And I checked – Draciel is going counter-clockwise when he starts spinning again, and Dranzer is going counter-clockwise when it stops.
I have no clue what happened. I’m so confused.
Anyway, Max wins round two. Draciel’s cracked bit chip (the top part where a Bit Beast goes – it’s just a generic filler piece if there’s no Bit Beast in there.) suddenly shatters after he’s declared winner. This causes the blade to bounce out of control and fly off toward Max, hitting him square in his grandmother’s pendant, which also shatters, much to Max’s complete shock.
Announcer: “Where’s all the king’s horses and all the king’s men when you really need them?” Who cares? They didn’t/couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again, so how would they be helpful here?
Apparently, losing just the bit chip is enough for them to start disqualifying Max if he can’t fix it. Uhm, every single person here has a little case with them that I assume is filled with replacement parts and tools and such. Max’s dad also owns a Beyblade store. How is it possible Max doesn’t have the means of repairing that piece right now? It’s not even an important piece. As I said, without a Bit Beast in it, the bit chip is entirely for aesthetics.
Okay, we had to jump through some hoops to accept the manner in which Tyson got Dragoon. But why did Max’s grandma just randomly have a Bit Beast? And why did she keep it in a pendant?
“Grandma must have meant for me to find this!” You never would have discovered that if your blade didn’t randomly shatter the pendant off your neck. And why wouldn’t she just give it to you instead of hiding it in a pendant?
The final round starts, and both Dranzer and Draciel stay in the center for ten seconds at the same time. As a result, they have to go into overtime, which is just a typical BeyBattle until one or the other falls. Kai actually gives a compliment to Max, telling him he performed well, but he’s ready to end it now. As the blades clash, Max’s Beyblade glows purple and unleashes the power of Draciel.
Draciel manages to knock Dranzer up and away, and it seems like he’s got the win in the bag, but Kai unleashes his own Bit Beast and sends Dranzer after him. With one swift attack, Draciel is knocked out of the arena. At a score of one to two, Kai wins and moves onto the finals while Max concedes defeat.
Backstage, Max congratulates Kai for his victory, which he hesitantly accepts before leaving. Max is bummed about losing, but he has high hopes for next time, and he absolutely adores his new Bit Beast. Tyson and Kenny meet him backstage to raise his spirits after his defeat, declaring him the true champion since he put up such a good fight.
That night, the boys relax in some hot springs when they hear the sounds of a Beyblade over the dividing wall. Peeking over, they see Ray in a cloud of smoke, surrounded by deep cuts in the ground left from practicing with his Beyblade. His and Tyson’s match is up next, and Tyson couldn’t be more excited.
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This was a pretty good episode. I thought the new BeyStadium was simplistic but cool. I like creative BeyStadiums that could actually exist and be used in real life. I thought Max’s strategy, while not really making much sense out of universe, was interesting in the second round. He didn’t really have any strategy for round three outside of using Draciel, and he didn’t even know how to activate him.
I appreciate Kai actually being fairly respectful towards Max during this entire episode. For a guy who thrives on trash talk and has a massive ego, he didn’t really sling any shit towards Max. He even complimented him verbally once and internally a few times.
It was fairly clear that Max was going to lose this bout. Just like it’s pretty clear Tyson is going to win his match with Ray so they can have the finals be the big rematch between Tyson and Kai. However, he did give Kai a pretty good run for his money. He even won one round, which is pretty good. He takes everything in stride, so, while you feel bad for him, you don’t feel too bad. He had fun, so that’s all that matters.
If there’s one big complaint I have about this episode, it’s that it sucks as a debut episode for Draciel. It’s hard to think much of Draciel when it lost in one shot and didn’t even actually do anything on its first time out. Max managed to win one round without Draciel installed, and he loses in one hit with him installed. If anything, it actually makes Max’s blade seem worse now.
Next time, it’s Tyson vs. Ray and the debut of Driger!
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